Author: Mark Fletcher

A large retailer has these instructions at their website for handling click and collect:

Their approach has multiple friction points, giving shoppers multiple reasons to not buy through them. Click and collect should be easy, certain and enjoyable. While there will be some overhead for the business and the customer, what this business imposes is ridiculous.

They get you to go to their website. They they want a photo of the order. Then they have you complete a form. Then they will ring you. They, finally, you get to go to the shop from you ring them again to have them bring the goods to you.

I’ve been doing click and collect for years through several of my shops. It’s single-step, each and certain for the customer and for the business, as it should be.

Every barrier we insert between ourselves and our customers is a hurdle to the revenue opportunity.

I have been contacted by several different people in recent weeks asking how they can convert their existing shop into a newsagency business. While each had different reasons, they were certain that they wanted to make the move. So, let’s explore that.

There is no licence as such to call your business a newsagency. The shingle has no regulation associated with it. There is regulation around lottery products and there are hoops to jump through for newspapers and magazines though, as well a some supplier driven regulation around access to newspapers and magazines – but that’s more related to physical location and proximity to other retailers.

There is no place you can go that will tell you all you need to know, or what you need to do, which is good because this in itself is a barrier that speaks to challenges of trading in the channel.

Before you go too far down the path you need to know sure of why you want to make the move and what the move actually looks like. If it is putting in papers and magazines to your existing shop, that’s relatively easy … but does it make your business a newsagency? If this is you, you need to know there are plenty of newsagents transitioning the other way.

Back in the day, a traditional newsagency was anchored with several key product categories: newspapers, magazines, lottery products, greeting cards, and stationery. You could say tobacco was in there, but it was not as dominant as the aforementioned five. The first three product categories are agency lines. That is, you are paid a commission to sell them, and the commission is far less than usual retail margin.

If converting your existing shop to a newsagency for you means you want lotteries, you need to approach Lotterywest if you are in WA or Tabcorp if you are elsewhere in Australia. I am not sharing specific contact details as that is a hoop you need to jump through, consider it a qualifier.

If you want newspapers, your starting place needs to be the publisher. They will connect you with the right people if they are interested.

If you want magazines, you need to start with Ovato, or Are Direct as they will soon be called.

But, it’s more than getting supply. You need to consider space in your shop, the time management requirements for each category and how the shoppers for those categories may fit, or not, with your existing customer mix.

I am barely scratching the surface on this topic. That’s deliberate. Making your existing shop a newsagency is not easy. It is important that you understand this from the outset.

newsXpress sent its members a swag bag of product samples to try and explore a couple of weeks ago. Each swag bag (a box actually) was worth around $200.00 and contained items (mainly but not all) bought by newsXpress from newsXpress preferred suppliers for members to see, touch, feel and try.

Included was literature about products, too – pricing as well as vital contextual information that helps retailers understand the role each product can play.

The swag bag is a unique tactile opportunity that I came up with to fill a void felt by retailers who were missing the trade show experiences.

Here is a photo of some of the items in each swag bag sent to newsXpress members.

There was more than you can see in this photo.

All of the items are from newsXpress preferred suppliers with preferential access, pricing and terms for newsXpress members.

I am grateful to suppliers for their engagement and to newsXpress members for their engagement with the sample products since receiving them.

I doubt trade shows will ever bounce back to where they were, in part because suppliers have benefited from not having that operating cost and in part because plenty of retailers have grown without the cost of trade shows, even though many do miss the ‘holiday’. It’s important we continue to seek out ways to replace the trade show experience, to help retailers keep evolving their businesses.